Poultry News

Understanding How IB Viruses are Tested, Typed is First Step to Control in Poultry

15 October 2015

The more you understand how diagnostic labs screen samples for infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), the better you can understand the complexity of the disease and the need for strategic vaccination programs, says Mark Jackwood, PhD, University of Georgia.

"Some IBV samples are 100% similar to a known IBV, but when the similarity is not as clear-cut, the test results leave uncertainty about how to plan vaccine protocols,” he writes in Poultry Health Today.

Mark Jackwood discusses IBV testing

He adds that molecular diagnostic tests, such as real-time PCR and sequencing, provide a high-throughput, rapid and cost-effective surveillance tool that let producers be more responsive to emerging variant IBVs. "This, in turn, will improve animal welfare and help reduce losses from a very serious and costly disease,” Mr Jackwood says.